Airport Research

21 August 2009

Airport research at FW focuses on the implementation of the ACARE goals to improve traffic flow at airports. The main focus here is on landside airport management and airport simulation.

Airport Management Research topics are the design and prototypical development of support systems for all the parties involved in airport operations. The work focuses on the processes for passengers, luggage, and cargo at the airport. The activities aim at integrating landside and airside processes into a Total Airport Management (TAM) system as well as managing intermodal transport at airports.

These studies close the gap in the system portfolio at DLR between the development of airside management systems within Air Traffic Management (ATM) and the landside transport management. A decrease in stopover time inside the terminal, a more reliable prediction of the various processes, and a decrease in delays in air traffic are expected when principles of vehicle management are transferred to passenger, luggage and cargo management.

Airport SimulationIn addition to the research in the area of airport management, airport simulation studies are an indispensable part of airport research. These simulations are performed in close cooperation with more vehicle-oriented institutes for transport management at DLR in Braunschweig. Design and development of suitable support systems require the capability of modelling airport processes and to perform both fast-time and real-time simulations.

Since today's security processes are a major obstacle for the optimization of passenger flows inside the terminal, it is necessary to pay special attention to these processes in the simulations. Expertise has been acquired in the area of "indoor security". This is complementary to the capabilities at DLR in the area of "outdoor security" with regard to emergency management and protection of infrastructures.